Steps have been taken to facilitate the Upper Peninsula into one region when it comes to MichiganWorks! and regional planning.

At its regular meeting Thursday, the E.U.P Workforce Development Board and E.U.P Employment & Training Consortium Administrative Board heard an update of a state-mandated consolidation.

“Our plan locally is trying to strengthen what we have going on for Chippewa, Mackinac and Luce right now,” said MichiganWorks! Executive Director Gwen Worley. “The same time that is going on, there is an effort look at the UP as a region and establish some UP-wide organizations.”

The directive was made earlier this year as the state is trying to streamline operations. The goal is to take the state from having 25 branches of MichiganWorks! down to 10 and reduce the number of regional planning offices from 14 down to 10. The move also is being made in other areas as well.

“I received word that adult education will be handled on a regional basis starting in July,” Worley said. “They want to look at this regional arrangement and have one ISD be the lead fiscal agent. In our region, we have seven intermediate regional schools districts. They will have to decide which one will be the lead fiscal agent.”

As for workforce development and MichiganWorks! combining, representatives from the UP have been able to get the state to recognize three subregions — the west, central and eastern.

“We have been wanting to proceed very carefully and slowly on this,” she told the two boards. “We have worked very hard to get the state to recognize the three subregions. However, we want to keep our own autonomy and own decision-making here and keep the jobs we have locally here.”

Worley said the EUP has proven how it can do things efficiently and she feels it cannot be made more efficient than it already is.

“We don’t see how anyone can do it more economically than we have,” she said. “When I retire, Jeff (Hagan) will take over director of both (MichiganWorks! and Regional Economic Planning). Job development is economical development.”

David Goudreau, chairman of the Workforce Development Board, said the U.P. has an advantage over the rest of the state — no in-fighting.

“In the spirit of cooperation, we have a significant advantage,” he said. “We need to decide who is responsible for what activities. Rest assured, I am pretty wary about that.”

Action was taken by both boards Thursday to adopt a resolution to help the consolidation process begin.

“What we have accomplished is to suggest a talent council to cover the whole Upper Peninsula and each of the boards at the subregions would continue the discussions moving forward,” Worley said. “Each subregion would have four people on this council.”

Goudreau said the resolution is needed as a starting point.

“The 10-region concept is not an invitation. It is a directive. This is our start to establish the infrastructure,” he said. “Sometimes good deeds don’t go unpunished though.”

There are some concerns that do not sit well with the Eastern U.P. groups.

“Some things mentioned seemed to put the cart before the horse,” Worley said. “The Central and Western UP agencies are being handled by the job force board in the central region as far as fiscal responsibilities. We don’t intend to be just swept under another agency’s protective wing and lose our identity.”

The executive director said the EUP groups will continue to look out for its own best interests, but there will be attempts for further collaboration across the UP.

“Other areas of the state don’t know their neighbors like we do. We think we are several steps ahead of many places in the state,” she said. “There may be some monetary incentives, but we have not been informed of what they are. Lets examine this carrot they are dangling out there and will it really help us and what strings are attached to it. I think this is a good first step for us to take.”

Jeff Hagan, who will be taking over for Worley when she retires later this year, said services can’t be delivered across the 15 counties that make up the Upper Peninsula.

“We are ahead of the curve,” he said. “I want to see what the carrot is and make sure it is a carrot.”

Goudreau said the EUP is the outlier and part of the logic from the Central UP group was that it worked for them to take over duties of the western UP.

“I told them we aren’t at the other end of a gun either,” he said. “The resolution we have is to redo the structure. Somebody has to answer the mail. This starts at the top. This is the first step.”

Goudreau said he only sees two key jobs – the chief financial officer and the chief information officer.

“The CEO could be rotating among the three directors,” he said.

Worley added that combining all three subregions into one would not work because of the way services are provided.

“We have some differences with the rest of the Upper Peninsula as to how our programs are delivered. We use contractors,” she said. “Our performance benchmarks have been met consistently year after year with them. They (the central U.P. Group) said wouldn’t you like to have more money, but I am not sure where it would be coming from.

“We have had to live within our budget. If there is some money that will assist us, that would be great. But I don’t know if anybody in the other two regions want to start sending money over here,” the executive director added. “We used to offer direct services. … we don’t see any reason to change what is working for us now. If we all became one big happy agency across the Upper Peninsula, I am not sure the administrators would be interested in contracting. One person said it sounds like the Central UP wouldn’t mind taking over the Eastern UP and have people work from them.”

Goudreau said if there is extra money, why is it not be utilized now?

“We have three perfectly functioning, perfectly good operating agencies that collaborate. Services come first and employees come second,” he said. “If you have the money, why not give it to us now? If that is the carrot, give it to us now.”

Worley added she felt less pressure about consolidation in Lansing after a recent trip.

“Our MichiganWorks! agency is not split between two regions. There are five that have some counties in one region and some in another. They don’t want single county agencies. There are four right now. We are neither.”

She said the goal is to comply with the state mandate.

“Our strategy is try to minimally comply and this collaboration is exactly what is described in the regional initiative,” Worley said. “It is going to be a bit of a battle to hold our own in the Upper Peninsula, but there is a lot of commitment to do just that.”